Tech:NYC Digest: January 25

Tech:NYC Digest: January 25

January 25, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Happy National Plan for Vacation Day (consider this our regular reminder to use your PTO)! In today’s digest, statewide indoor mask mandate gets tossed around the courts, FDA restricts use of COVID-19 antibody treatments, and a hybrid future gets stamp of approval from tech workers.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 12,484

    • New positive cases, NYC: 4,417 

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 7.7 percent (-0.3 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 4,651 (no change)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers with least one dose: 87.1 percent

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 73.7 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • A New York State judge yesterday struck down the state’s indoor mask mandate for places that don’t screen for vaccinations, ruling it had been enacted unlawfully. (CNN)

    • But following an appeal from Attorney General Letitia James, a judge ruled the state can keep the mask mandate in place while the appeal process continues.

    • The state Dept. of Education also said schools must continue to follow the mask rule while legal issues were outstanding. (New York Times)

    • The ruling reverses the statewide mandate, not local mandates. City Hall officials said the decision had no immediate impact on NYC’s schools and public places since the city has its own masking policies in place.

  • Pfizer has begun enrolling adults into a trial to test a more Omicron-specific vaccine. (Associated Press)

  • The FDA has formally restricted the use of existing antibody treatments that studies have shown are considerably less effective against the Omicron variant, pausing a therapy that many patients — especially the unvaccinated — relied on. (New York Times)

  • MTA officials said the full rollout of the tap-and-go OMNY fare system will be delayed by as much as 15 months, but the farecapping program  — which allows riders who spend the equivalent of a weekly unlimited MetroCard to get the remainder of that week free — is expected to go into effect next month. (Gothamist)

  • And if you were seeing or smelling smoke in the city today, it was due to a port fire all the way in Newark.

In other reading:

  • Two COVID Americas: Why the Unvaccinated Are Less Worried Than the Boosted (New York Times)

  • Everything you need to know to claim the child tax credit this tax filing season (The 19th)

  • The Rise of the Crypto Mayors (New York Times)

It’s beyond time to move past the “remote versus office” debate as it’s clearer than ever that the future of work is both, according to new insights from the 2022 Pulse Survey published from Slack’s Future Forum.

  • The survey collected workplace sentiment data from more than 10,700 “knowledge workers” in the US and five other countries, with responses from C-suite executives and junior managers alike.

The top findings: While remote workers are still reporting more satisfaction than those who spend most of their time in the office, hybrid work is more popular than both.

  • During a time when many companies hoped to have fuller office reopenings, between May and November 2021, hybrid work arrangements increased 12 percentage points from 46 percent to 58 percent of all survey respondents.

  • Pandemic-era policies that allow workers to opt in to their preferences seem to be paying off: Across the board, remote, hybrid, and office workers all said their workplace experiences had improved since the end of 2020. Metrics tracking sense of belonging, work-life balance, and job-related stress all made improvements.

But of all the options, hybrid work appears to be the model of choice. In the last half of 2021, 68 percent of workers splitting their time between home and the office say it’s the model they prefer. 

What to watch out for: As hybrid models become more entrenched, “proximity bias” will become a leading challenge.

  • Underrepresented groups indicated the most enthusiasm for flexibility in the survey, and if they’re spending less time in the office, it could limit their access to professional opportunities and career mobility. Ensuring that the inequity between the two doesn’t widen further will be a key priority for 2022.

In other reading: 

  • These recent grads landed tech jobs, but they’ve barely stepped foot in an office (CNN)

  • It’s time to replace work-life balance with ‘life-work integration’ (Fortune)

  • Here’s how to prioritize your personal health in your WFH routine (Fast Company)

  • Bokksu, a New York City-based Japanese snack subscription service, raised $22 million in Series A funding. Valor Siren Ventures led the round and was joined by Company Ventures, St Cousair, World Innovation Lab, Headline Asia, and Gaingels. (TechCrunch)

  • Prologue, a New York City-based holding company for technology investments and media brands, raised $23 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. (Prologue)

  • January 27: Virtual: NYC Civic Tech Hack Night, with Intro.nyc creator Jehiah Czebotar, testingsites.nyc and testlinglines.nyc creators Ellie Frymire and Chris Barna, WeGovNYC organizer Devin Balkind, and blockparty.studio creator Sarah Sachs. Hosted by BetaNYC. Register here.

  • February 1: Virtual: How tech is making sure shopping will never be the same, with Fast COO Allison Barr Allen, Fabric CEO Faisal Masud, and Pinterest SVP of Engineering Jeremy King. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • February 1: Virtual: Hospitality in the Digital Age, with Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

  • February 2: Virtual: Reality+ from the Matrix to the Metaverse, with author and NYU Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness director David Chalmers. Hosted by NYC Media Lab. Register here.

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